Last week Germany reported that in the second quarter, its GDP declined by 0.2%, worse than Wall Street consensus. This happened a few shorts days after Italy reported a second consecutive decline in its own GDP, becoming the first Europen country to enter a triple-dip recession. What’s worse, Europe’s slowdown took place before the brunt of Russian sanctions hit. Surely in the third quarter the GDP of Germany, a nation whose exports accounts for 41% of GDP, will be even worse, with whisper numbers of -1% being thrown casually around, but one thing is certain: Europe is about to enter its third recession since the Lehman collapse just as we forecast at the end of 2013, a “triple-dip” which may become an outright depression unless Draghi injects a few trillion in credit money (which will do nothing but delay the inevitable and make it that much worse once the can can no longer be kicked), and unless normal trade ties with Russia are restored. Continue reading »

The Czech Civic Democrats and their coalition partners are working to quickly replace Petr Necas as premier to keep the conservative government in power through 2014 and fend off Socialist attempts to force early elections.

Leaders of the ruling parties are trying to narrow the field of candidates for prime minister after Necas promised to quit amid a scandal over spying and bribery charges. He will submit his resignation to President Milos Zeman at 6 p.m. at Prague Castle today, rather than face an opposition-led no-confidence vote tomorrow.

If anyone thought the bad blood between Germany and the rest of the insolvent proletariat, aka the part of the Eurozone which is out of money (most of it), and which has been now confirmed will be supporting Obama (one wonders what the quid for that particular quo is, although we are certain we will find out as soon as December), complete collapse of the Greek neo-vassal state of the globalist agenda notwithstanding, had gone away, here comes former ECB chief economist Juergen Stark to dispel such illusions. In an interview with Austrian Die Presse, the former banker said what everyone without a PhD understands quite well: “The break came in 2010. Until then everything went well…”Then the ECB began to take on a new role, to fall into panic…. Together with other central banks, the ECB is flooding the market, posing the question not only about how the ECB will get its money back, but also how the excess liquidity created can be absorbed globally. “It can’t be solved by pressing a button. If the global economy stabilises, the potential for inflation has grown enormously… It gave in to outside pressure … pressure from outside Europe” Why, whichever bank headquartered at 200 West, NY, NY might he be referring to?

He added that “panic” about the eurozone breaking up was “nonsense” but that the only way to end the crisis was for member states to bring down their debts and implement structural reforms to boost economic growth.

“Governments have recognised that returning to budgetary discipline is indispensable. Markets focus much more on whether states will be able to service their debts in five years’ time,” he said.

Mr Stark quit in late 2011, following in the footsteps of former Bundesbank head Axel Weber, who stepped down earlier in the year from Germany’s central bank because of unease about the ECB’s policies.

Mr Weber’s successor Jens Weidmann was the only member of the ECB’s policy-setting governing council to vote against the bank’s new programme earlier this month.

“Weidmann’s arguments … should not be made light of,” Mr Stark told Die Presse. “The way in which his position has been publicly commented upon by the ECB leadership has crossed the line of fairness.”

And speaking of continuing takeover of the world by a few not so good banks, a loud warning that the advent of globalist influences (i.e., bankers) is taking over Europe and that the “destruction of Europe’s democracy is in its final phase” comes not from some European (or American… or Zimbabwean) fringe blog, but from the 71 year old president of the Czech Republic, someone who certainly knows about the difference between communism and democracy, Vaclav Klaus. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, “Václav Klaus warns that “two-faced” politicians, including the Conservatives, have opened the door to an EU superstate by giving up on democracy, in a flight from accountability and responsibility to their voters. “We need to think about how to restore our statehood and our sovereignty. That is impossible in a federation. The EU should move in an opposite direction,” he said.”

We start today’s story of the day by pointing out that Deutsche Bank – easily Europe’s most critical financial institution – reported results that were far worse than expected, following a decline in equity and debt trading revenues of 23% and 8%, but primarily due to Europe simply “not being fixed yet” despite what its various politicians tell us. And if DB is still impaired, then something else will have to give. Next, we go to none other than Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid, who in his daily Morning Reid piece, reminds the world that with austerity still the primary driver in a double dipping Europe (luckily… at least for now, because no matter how many economists repeat the dogmatic mantra, more debt will never fix an excess debt problem, and in reality austerity is the wrong word – the right one is deleveraging) to wit: “an unconditional ECB is probably what Europe needs now given the austerity drive.” However, as German taxpayers who will never fall for unconditional money printing by the ECB (at least someone remembers the Weimar case), the ECB will likely have to keep coming up with creative solutions. Which bring us to the story du jour brought by Suddeutsche Zeitung, according to which the ECB and countries that use the euro are working on an initiative to allow cash-strapped banks direct access to funding from the European Stability Mechanism. As a reminder, both Germany and the ECB have been against this kind of direct uncollateralized, unsterilized injections, so this move is likely a precursor to even more pervasive easing by the European central bank, with the only question being how many headlines of denials by Schauble will hit the tape before this plan is approved. And if all eyes are again back on the ECB, does it mean that the recent distraction face by the IMF can now be forgotten, and more importantly, if the ECB is once again prepping to reliquify, just how bad are things again in Europe? And what happens if this time around the plan to fix a solvency problem with more electronic 1s and 0s does not work?

Here is Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid redirecting attention back to where it was all throughout the summer and fall of 2011, until the new Goldman-based head of the ECB relented days after his appointment: Continue reading »

Belgrade: Thick ice closed vast swathes of the Danube on Thursday, crippling shipping on Europe’s busiest waterway, as the death toll from bitter cold across the continent rose to at least 460.

As it has every day for nearly two weeks, the brutal cold claimed lives in several countries and killed dozens more in weather-related accidents.

The 2,860-kilometre Danube, which flows through 10 countries and is vital for transport, power, irrigation, industry and fishing, was wholly or partially blocked from Austria to its mouth on the Black Sea.

WARSAW — A cold snap kept Europe in its icy grip Thursday, pushing the death toll to 163 as countries from Ukraine to Italy struggled with temperatures that plunged to record lows in some places.

Entire villages were cut off in parts of eastern Europe, trapping thousands, while road, air and rail links were severed and gas consumption shot up during what has been the severest winter in decades in some regions.

In Ukraine, tens of thousands headed to shelters to escape the freeze that emergencies services said has killed 63 people — most of them frozen to death in the streets, some succumbing to the hypothermia later in hospitals.

17 November 2011 | The IAEA has received information from the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) that the source of the iodine-131 (I-131) detected in Europe was most probably a release to the atmosphere from the Institute of Isotopes Ltd., Budapest. The Institute of Isotopes Ltd. produces radioisotopes for healthcare, research and industrial applications. According to the HAEA, the release occurred from September 8 to November 16, 2011. The cause of the release is under investigation.

As previously mentioned, the levels of I-131 that have been detected in Europe are extremely low. There is no health concern to the population. If any member of the public were to breathe iodine for a whole year at the levels measured in European countries, then they would receive a dose in the range of 0.01 microsieverts for the year. To put this into perspective, the average annual background is 2400 microsieverts per year.

The IAEA was first notified of the presence of trace levels of I-131 by authorities from the Czech Republic on 11 November. Since this notification, the IAEA contacted several member states throughout the region to determine the cause and origin. The IAEA also worked with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to conduct air dispersion modelling, as part of efforts to determine the source.

At least IAEA didn’t mention X-ray or transcontinental flight. Never mind that the average annual background includes external radiation, and that iodine-131 goes almost exclusively to thyroid; talking about the whole body radiation is irrelevant. Continue reading »

Low levels of a radioactive isotope have been detected in several European countries in the past days, but the source of the emission was unknown, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday, DPA reported.

VIENNA (AP) — Very low levels of radiation, which are higher than normal but don’t seem to pose a health hazard, are being registered in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday.

The agency said the cause was not known but was not the result of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, which spread radiation across the globe in March.

The “very low levels of iodine-131 have been measured in the atmosphere,” the agency said in a statement. It said such radioisotope will lose much of its radiation in about eight days.

However, an official familiar with the matter, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said the release appeared to be continuing.

An ambulance toured hospitals in December advising doctors on how to quit their jobs

Dozens of Czech hospitals could find themselves struggling to provide basic care on 1 March after almost 4,000 doctors – one quarter of the total number working in the country’s hospitals – tendered their resignations in protest at low wages.

The resignations are being co-ordinated by the doctors’ union (Lok), which says successive Czech governments have done nothing to improve doctors’ salaries since the fall of communism.

Peter Papp, 31, is an oncologist working at a hospital in Usti nad Labem, an industrial city about an hour’s drive north of Prague. He spent six years at medical school followed by three years on the cancer wards of two district hospitals.

With maximum overtime, Dr Papp’s gross salary is $1,165 (£750, 880 euros) per month, well below the national average.

After tax, health and social insurance payments, he takes home around $900 dollars, less than a car mechanic or waiter.

With rent in the Usti area at around $350 per month, he is left with slightly more than $500 to feed, clothe, transport and entertain himself. After devoting the last nine years of his life to medicine, Dr Papp has had enough.

“I’m not willing to work for the salary of a McDonald’s employee,” he told me, pointing out that he had made more money teaching English to pay his way through medical school.

Applications in the post

Dr Papp is one of 3,837 Czech doctors who have submitted formal letters of resignation to their hospital managers. On 1 March, he will be unemployed.

The Czech Republic is using controversial “sexual arousal” tests where men are shown pornography to check if asylum seekers are homosexual, according to EU’s leading human rights agency.

The EU said that the phallometric testing by the Czech Republic could fall foul of the European Charter of Human Rights Photo: ALAMY

In a report on homosexual equality, the Agency for Fundamental Rights said that phallometric testing, when men are shown both homosexual and heterosexual pornography while censors monitor the blood flow to the penis, “was questionable, since it is dubious whether it reaches sufficiently clear conclusions”.

The Czech Republic is the only country in the EU that uses phallometric testing in order to distinguish true asylum seekers from those that might use claims of homosexuality and subsequent persecution back home as ruse to get into the country.

The EU agency also said that the test could fall foul of the European Charter of Human Rights, which prohibits degrading and humiliating treatment, adding that “this exam is particularly inappropriate for asylum seekers, given the fact that many of them might have suffered abuse due to their sexual orientation”.

The Czech Republic’s human rights commission described the test as “undignified”.

But the Czech interior ministry defended the method, saying that it was part of a “comprehensive” system to check the veracity of claims, that it was voluntary and had only been used in about ten cases.

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — The slowing global economy is halting the spread of monetary union into eastern Europe and may lead to another year of losses for the Polish zloty, Hungarian forint and Czech koruna.

The zloty fell 21 percent against the euro from a record high in July as Poland headed for its biggest economic slowdown in almost a decade, while Hungary turned to the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and European Union for a bailout as the forint weakened 15 percent. Koruna volatility almost tripled as it depreciated 12 percent. The two-year mandatory trial period before adopting the euro allows swings of no more than 15 percent.

Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined the European Union in 2004, committing to enter the 10 trillion-euro ($12.7 trillion) economy of countries sharing a single currency. The dream faded since July as the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression drove investors from emerging markets. Now, New York-based Morgan Stanley and UBS AG in Zurich predict more foreign exchange losses in eastern Europe.

British citizens could be convicted in their absence by foreign courts for traffic, credit card or other criminal offences under plans approved in principle by the European Parliament.

The proposals would allow citizens to be extradited automatically under fast-track procedures at the request of another European Union country on the basis of a decision by the foreign court.

The overwhelming adoption by the Parliament of the proposals, which now go to the Council of Ministers, was condemned yesterday as “throwing habeas corpus out of the window”.

Philip Bradbourn, the Conservative justice and home affairs spokesman in the European Parliament, said: “This initiative would enable courts to pass judgments in absentia. It goes against one of the most fundamental corner-stones of British justice – that the accused has a right to defend himself at trial. If other EU countries want to go ahead with this proposal that’s their choice, but the British Government should have no part [of it].”

Moscow has issued an extraordinary warning to the West that military assistance to Georgia for use against South Ossetia or Abkhazia would be viewed as a “declaration of war” by Russia.

The extreme rhetoric from the Kremlin’s envoy to NATO came as President Dmitry Medvedev stressed he will make a military response to US missile defence installations in eastern Europe, sending new shudders across countries whose people were once blighted by the Iron Curtain.

And Moscow also emphasised it was closely monitoring what it claims is a build-up of NATO firepower in the Black Sea.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (right) meets with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin – the ‘real architect’ of the Georgia conflict – and the Security Council (unseen) in Sochi yesterday

The incendiary warning on Western military involvement in Georgia – where NATO nations have long played a role in training and equipping the small state – came in an interview with Dmitry Rogozin, a former nationalist politician who is now ambassador to the North Atlantic Alliance.

“If NATO suddenly takes military actions against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, acting solely in support of Tbilisi, this will mean a declaration of war on Russia,” he stated.

Don’t miss the“Key Points”at the end of the article.
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· Closer links needed to beat terrorism and crime

· Blueprint wants new force to patrol world flashpoints

A German and an Italian officer with the joint EU force Frontex check a lorry for illegal immigrants on the Polish border. The agency, which is seen as one model of future integration, patrols the EU’s frontiers. Photograph: Sven Kaestner/AP

Europe should consider sharing vast amounts of intelligence and information on its citizens with the US to establish a “Euro-Atlantic area of cooperation” to combat terrorism, according to a high-level confidential report on future security.

The 27 members of the EU should also pool intelligence on terrorism, develop joint video-surveillance and unmanned drone aircraft, start networks of anti-terrorism centres, and boost the role and powers of an intelligence-coordinating body in Brussels, said senior officials.Continue reading »